Poll: GOP more excited than Democrats about voting

Republicans are more jazzed than Democrats about voting in the 2014 midterm elections, but the enthusiasm gap between the parties isn’t as wide as it was at this point before the 2006 and 2010 “waves” that led to power changing hands.

A new Pew Research Center poll found 45% of voters who planned to support a GOP candidate for Congress were more enthusiastic about casting a ballot than they were in previous elections. By comparison, 37% of Democrats have greater enthusiasm about voting in November.

In the 2010 midterms, when the Tea Party helped sweep John Boehner’s party into power in the House, Republicans had a 13-point advantage in enthusiasm. In 2006, when Democrats took control of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s party had a 17-point enthusiasm advantage four months ahead of Election Day.

So what’s the cause of excitement?

The Pew poll found 62% of Republicans and Democrats are motivated to go to the polls because control of Congress is at stake. That’s a 5-point jump for Democrats compared to four years ago — and a 4-point drop for Republicans.

President Obama is also driving up enthusiasm for Republicans, with 51% of voters who say they will support a Republican in November consider it a vote against Obama. Democrats, however, don’t view a vote for a candidate in their party as being for the president. Slightly more than a third of Democrats in the poll, or 36%, say voting for a Democratic candidate for Congress is “for” Obama compared to 44% who said the same in 2010.

The Pew poll of 1,805 adults was taken July 8-14 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points.